Lego Bionicle: The Animation
Lego Bionicle: The Animation is an anime television series based on the Lego Bionicle toyline that aired internationally from 2002 and ending in 2010. Contents 1- Plot 2- Production and Release 3- Music 4- Reception - Plot - See Also: List of Lego Bionicle: The Animation Episodes and List of Lego Bionicle Characters - Production and Release - In late 2000 the Lego Bionicle toy line was proving to be very popular contributing to increase in sales for Lego. Noticing the popularity of the toy line in Japan anime studio A-1 pictures pitched an anime series to the Lego group and Lego Media, Lego agreed to the pitch and commissioned 22 episodes to air in 2002 to 2003. The art style of the series was inspired by The Mata-Nui Online Game an online game created by Templar Studios. A-1 went as far as to recruit Templar to help animated the series becoming one of the first internationally produced anime, Templar made sure the art style matched up with MNOG while A-1 added their own twists to the style giving the show a unique blend of style and action. Both the English and Japanese scripts for the series were written by Naomi Houser well known for writing Watchpoint Kyoto and translating the Persona games, while the series was Directed by Makoto Kendoname who previously directed To Live and Die in Highschool. The first 8 episodes grouped up as season 1 were completed by November of 2001, because of the international production and the characters never spoke with mouth movement creating the English dub was an easy task thus both the Japanese and English dubs aired around the same time as each other. The Japanese dub aired on the relatively new Spirit Network on January 6th, 2002 while the English dub aired on I Heart Disney later renamed the Anime Love Network on January 12th. The second season consisting of 6 Episodes based on the Bohrok Invasion were released in fall of 2002, while season 3 consisting of 8 Episodes based on the Bohrok-Kal and the Mask of Light storylines aired throughout 2003. A-1 Pictures and Lego Media renewed the series for another 28 episodes before season 3 aired, Seasons 4 and 5 consisting of 14 episodes each based on the Metru-Nui arcs were released in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The series would go on for another 5 years with 5 more seasons consisting of 14 episodes each. In 2012 Lego Media released a premium $120 Blu-Ray DVD box set called The Lego Bionicle Compendium as part of the 10th anniversary of the series, the set contained all 120 regular episodes the 4 OVAs plus 6 new episodes created specifically for the DVD which acted as a "Season 11" and a true finale to the series plus 2 exclusive Lego minifigures of Mata-Nui and Makuta and a complete physical soundtrack of the series. - Music - The music for the series early on reused music from MNOG but later seasons used original music created by American composer Nathan Furst and Japanese composer Hiroyuki Sawano. The later seasons of the series also utilized songs by Danish band Cryoshell created for Bionicle. In 2010 the complete soundtrack was released on I-Tunes for $15. - Reception - The series received positive reviews from various publications. The series was nominated for multiple Emmy's throughout its run and was considered one of the best anime series airing on American television and was seen as a reason to get The Anime Love Network on your cable subscription. Category:Love Network Category:Lego Media